Episode 7.
“See? I was right, wasn’t I?”
Seonjeong winked at Seoyul and turned her head. Doun entered looking displeased, his brows furrowed.
‘Uh... that’s not him being apprehensive at all....’
It was a gaze that looked ready to tear him apart. How in the world did that look remotely apprehensive!
Overwhelmed by that force, Seoyul slowly scooted his hips back. But Doun closed the distance without hesitation and said,
“You. Come here for a second.”
……What was he going to do, calling him aside?
Still afraid of his burning gaze, Seoyul gripped the hem of his clothes. Then Seonjeong shouted with a sharp glare.
“Come here for a second for what? If you’re going to look, look here.”
She casually pulled Doun down and seated him next to her. Only then did Seoyul let out a sigh of relief, but he still broke into a cold sweat under the relentless, scorching gaze.
“I didn’t even call you, so why did you come?”
In the meantime, Seonjeong asked, lounging crookedly on the sofa. Seoyul was curious about that too, so he carefully turned his head.
But instead of answering, Doun threw a question.
“He’s my Guide, right?”
M-my Guide?
His face flared up at the word that suddenly flew in. Unable to lift his head, he lowered his gaze, and the two began to continue their conversation.
“He’s the only Guide who can guide you, so wouldn’t that make him yours?”
“Then when does he start guiding me?”
“Well…… I think you’ll need to practice for about three more months?”
“What, three months?!!”
He, who had been silently asking questions, shouted in shock. How could it take three whole months.
Seonjeong, as if reading Doun’s mind, continued with an annoying smile on her face.
“Why are you so surprised? Yul is a beginner. And a C-rank guiding an S-rank—did you think it would be easy?”
“He did it last time! Why won’t it work?!”
“That was just a taste, a light one. Doing it properly is a completely different story. The rank difference is already severe, and if he gets devoured by you, you’ll ruin the kid.”
D-devoured?
Seoyul jumped in surprise and raised his head again. He was afraid to ask what it meant, but he couldn’t not ask.
“D-devoured?”
When he asked with a trembling voice, Seonjeong slapped Doun’s forearm hard as if to say, ‘See?’.
“See! You’re going to receive guiding from a kid who’s this scared?”
“…….”
Unable to retort, Doun threw a fierce gaze at Seoyul.
‘Eek!’
Seoyul, frightened again, quickly lowered his head.
Seeing that, Seonjeong shouted “No staring!” at Doun and smacked his forehead. That action made veins pop on Doun’s forehead, but Seonjeong cleanly ignored it and spoke to Seoyul.
“When there’s a rank difference, the lower-ranked one can get swept away. This guy is also a beginner at receiving guiding, so we have to be careful, careful, and more careful.”
“Ah…….”
“Besides, this one is in a position where he can’t receive guiding, so even if he wants to practice, he can’t....”
The look in Seonjeong’s eyes as she said that was like someone looking at something useless. Doun also read that gaze and flared up, shouting.
“Why can’t I?! I can do it! I just have to stay still, right!”
“Heh? Really?”
Seonjeong threw a sly gaze and stuck close to him. He flinched and closed his mouth.
After keeping his mouth shut and thinking for a while, he buried himself in the sofa and muttered quietly in a disgruntled voice.
“I just have to…… monitor it.”
“Pwahaha!”
At those words, Seonjeong’s suppressed laughter finally burst out.
How long had it been since she’d seen him like this. Seonjeong laughed for a while, then wiped the tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and opened her mouth.
“What do you think, Yul? Can you do it? If it’s too burdensome, you can refuse. Even if we monitor, nothing too dangerous will happen, but your will is still important.”
Seoyul thought for a moment. But there was no need to think for long. Since he had to practice anyway, wouldn’t it be better to do it with Doun?
That way, he could be of help a little sooner.
‘Besides. She said they’d be watching…….’
Being alone together was still difficult. But since Seonjeong said she would stay by his side, he felt relieved.
“I’ll…… do it.”
“See! I told you he could do it!”
The moment the words left his mouth, Doun shouted. To Seoyul’s eyes, he looked like he was annoyed, but to Seonjeong, it was clearly visible.
‘Look at this guy.’
Pretending not to be while patting his chest in relief—it was quite funny. Should she tease him more, or not?
But thinking about how much a guy with nothing but pride must have agonized to come this far, she decided to back down for today.
“Okay. Then let’s practice here from now on.”
Seonjeong clapped with a bright voice, pleased. It seemed she would be able to see something interesting for the time being.
But unlike Seonjeong, Doun’s face remained deeply furrowed and showed no signs of smoothing out. Seonjeong shot another warning at such a Doun.
“Especially you! You’re a beginner too, so don’t do it half-heartedly, do it properly. Got it?!”
“Argh, seriously! I got it!”
He complained loudly, but it didn’t work on Seonjeong. Instead, she found him detestable and messed up his hair thoroughly, making his appearance even more of a mess.
Doun let out a heavy sigh, feeling hopeless about the future.
“Haah…….”
* * *
After that, Seoyul went to the research lab every day to practice guiding Doun. Since there was also an instructor who would share guiding know-how, he really worked hard.
Seoyul’s eyes were always sparkling and full of passion. But Doun’s eyes were hazy every single day. Whenever he received guiding, his focus disappeared, and he kept trying to take the lead, so he had to be warned several times a day.
Ironically, Seoyul was the honor student, and Doun was the failing student.
“Again, again! Aren’t you going to come to your senses?!”
“Ack!”
Seoyul, who had been continuing the guiding under Seonjeong’s supervision, raised his head at the powerful sound. The ever-intensifying sound of the smack really sounded painful.
But Doun just got annoyed at himself for losing control again, showing no signs of being in pain.
‘As expected, S-rank Espers are amazing.’
It wasn’t particularly amazing just because he was S-rank, but to Seoyul, who was completely smitten, everything looked amazing.
“Again, again!!”
“Ah! Seriously! Stop hitting me! I know! I know I do!”
“Oh ho? Losing your temper? Should I stop?”
“…….”
At Seonjeong’s threat, Doun quietly tucked his tail and began to concentrate again.
‘Damn. This is frustrating.’
It had been several days since the guiding practice began. At first, it had been insanely good, but as he got used to it, he felt it was lacking after all.
But even so, it felt so good that his reason often drifted away. Despite being several ranks lower, if it felt like this, he wondered how those who received guiding from the same rank could even live.
‘It’s a good thing I’m S-rank. Those crazy bastards. They must be having dirty thoughts every day while receiving something even better than this.’
Despite various circumstances making him feel more sensitive, Doun cursed the Espers while thinking that.
Because if he didn’t, he felt like he would lose even his last shred of pride.
“Again, again! No, Yul is doing well, so why do you keep looking like that?”
Once again, Seonjeong’s scolding flew at him.
‘I’ve never been treated like this before.’
Doun had been an S-rank Esper since before he knew it. He had the disadvantage of not being able to receive guiding, but because he was born with overwhelmingly superior genes, he was good at everything.
He had lived receiving only admiring gazes with people saying ‘S-rank is indeed different,’ so this kind of treatment was truly a first in his life.
If it had been his usual personality, he would have immediately told them to quit and stormed out. But whenever he received the guiding Seoyul sent, that resolve melted away.
‘Sigh. Why is his energy so soft.’
What had been somewhat uneven at first now felt soft and caressed his body after a few days. Because of that, his sharply honed self might have been calming down bit by bit.
The ringing in his ears and headaches remained, but just being able to feel this sensation was a great joy to Doun.
“Sigh…….”
“There he goes, looking like he’s going to die from pleasure again.”
He had grown used to Seonjeong’s teasing. No, he had decided to become shameless about it.
What was wrong with an Esper feeling good while receiving guiding? Wasn’t that obvious?
Once he thought that, his heart felt lighter.
“Doun. Do you like it that much? Tell me how much you like it. It might be a reference for when we do guiding. Hmm?”
Used to it, my foot.
‘Damn. Just you wait. I’ll master this today!’
Doun burned with determination, his competitive spirit ignited. But as the guiding continued, it fizzled out with a hiss.
At the easy-to-read reaction, Seonjeong giggled, and the research staff were the same.
Thus, a month passed.
“Oh! You’re quite good now?”
“See! What three months. He mastered it in just one month!”
Doun shouted proudly.
Seonjeong alternated between marveling at the two exchanging energy smoothly and clicking her tongue at Doun’s smugness.
“The one who did well isn’t you, it’s Yul. Espers usually only take ten days, you know?”
“…….”
Ten days…….
‘Damn. Which bastards mastered it in ten days?!’
Doun cursed the universal statistics and glared. Seoyul, who had grown quite used to that appearance, smiled slightly without realizing it.
The result of observing him for a month was that Seoyul realized Doun was not a scary person at all, despite his size.
Though sometimes startled by his fierce momentum, watching how he treated Seonjeong and the researchers, he could tell that he let his guard down around his own people.
So Seoyul’s goal was newly revised.
‘I want to get inside there too.’
As a C-rank, it felt like too shameless a wish, but wondering if just thinking about it was okay, he smiled bashfully.
“Oh my. Look at this cute thing. He’s filled out so much in just a month.”
“Ohoooh. S-Seonjeong-nim…….”
Seonjeong pulled and pinched his plump cheeks that had filled out, adoring him to her heart’s content. Of course, since she was unilaterally adoring him, Seoyul was embarrassed, and Doun scrunched up his face as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.
“Anyway, this means it’s done now, right? He doesn’t need to come here anymore, right?”
“Hmm? Yeah. Now you two can do the guiding on your own.”
The moment her permission fell, Doun cheered that he had finally done it. But Seoyul felt more regret than expected now that it was ending like this.
“Can I…… still come visit?”
The boy mumbling as he asked was really too cute. Seonjeong tried to hug him, who looked like a squirrel, but failed. Because Doun had snatched Seoyul away before she could.
“Uwah!”
“Stop tormenting the kid. Let’s go.”
Afraid someone would catch him, Doun held onto Seoyul and walked with heavy steps.
Seoyul realized that it was okay to hold hands like this without anyone else around now. Though he still had to almost run due to the inconsiderate gait, even that felt pleasant.
‘I have to…… work harder.’
He had something he wanted to do well. He really wanted to do well for someone. Even if he couldn’t guide perfectly, he thought that if he kept at it, Doun’s side effects might get better.
“Ah, what the. If you’re going to walk fast, you should say so.”
Doun discovered him chasing after him with a red face and slowed his pace. At the still-held hands and the considerately slowed steps, Seoyul’s heart felt ticklish.
‘I’ll definitely save him.’
Seoyul made the promise once more and smiled a smile no one knew of. His heart warmed as much as the warmth he felt in his hand, and he couldn’t put away his smile.